In a Different World with a Smartphone - Chapter 440

Please note that this is MTL chapter (machine translation).

#440 Underground passage, and the Royal Palace of Nokia.

A group of twelve people proceeded down the night pathway under their breath.

Fortunately or unfortunately, there is moonlight tonight, so it’s not so dark. Nevertheless, if we didn’t proceed carefully, there was a chance that we would be trapped.

We were able to sneak into the royal family-owned mine north of the Nokia Royal Capital without difficulty. The mine was almost completely exhausted of all the valuable ore and was almost completely unused.

This way….There’s an entrance this way that leads to the ruins underneath the palace.

Following Princess Paphia’s guidance, we saw what looked like a tunnel that had been hardened with earth magic through the rocks in one corner of the mine.

The tunnel was about three meters high and extended down into the basement. Naturally, the back of the tunnel was completely dark and nothing could be seen.

”Light, come, little light, light.”

Linse produces a small ball of light in the palm of her hand. Using that light, we descended a bumpy but gentle descent and came to a slightly wider tunnel.

The path is a junction, with paths leading to the left and right. Just at the intersection, Paphira’s feet stopped.

‘This should be …… here. There should be an underground passage ahead. It seems to be inaccessible from this side.”

Is there a pathway down there?　It looks like an ordinary rock wall, but that it is ……

Yae mumbles as she touches the rock wall incessantly. In the same way, Lean is also touching and tapping the rock wall with a conk.

”It doesn’t seem like they’re using an illusion to create the illusion of a rock wall like [Mirage]. I wonder if they’re going to crush it and proceed normally.

”There’s a magic stone in the passage over there that reacts to the magic of royalty, and that’s the key that opens the door here. ……

‘Oh, I see. So you’re using earth magic.

Lean nodded a small nod of approval. Since ancient times, traps and gimmicks caused by earth magic have been common in these underground ruins and dungeons. This must be one of them.

”What do we do now?　Crumble?

Blow it up with Explosions, right?

The older sister Else clenching her fist and the younger sister Linse trying to activate her magic. Is it because they are twins that their thoughts are similar in some way or another?

‘It might not be a good idea to break this place. And it will leave traces that someone has broken in.

As Yumina replies with a wry smile at the twins’ actions, Sakura picks up a stone at her feet and begins to pound on the rock wall. With a quizzical look on her face, Sue calls out to her.

‘What are you doing here?’

It’s hitting rocks.

No, I can see that when I see it: ……

‘There is a difference in the sound that resonates. It’s not fifty centimeters thick. This one can ‘jump’. [Teleportation]

The cherry blossoms disappear in a huff.

”Ah!”

While everyone except Tokie was surprised, a few seconds later, Sakura reappeared in her original place.

”It’s okay. There’s a dungeon passage ahead. There doesn’t seem to be any demonic beasts around, so we can jump with two of them at a time.”

‘What?　Oops, Sakura-dono!

Sakura-san?

[Teleportation]

With a shuffle, the cherry blossoms that Yae and Hilda had withdrawn from their hands disappear again. They were the first to choose these girls in case something happened to them in the transition.

When Sakura came back, she next shook Leanne and Lou’s hands and transitioned again.

Paphia and Lisia, Yumina and Sue, Else and Linse, and then Sakura transitioned everyone to the other side of the wall, one after another. Tokie transitioned by herself, though.

‘…… I’m tired,’

Sakura looks not too tired for that. In fact, I’m not that tired.

The magic power consumed by 【Teleport】 is determined by its distance. It also depends on the number of people you jump with, but everyone knew that an instantaneous movement with a distance of less than one meter would not consume that much magic power. Sakura’s ‘tired’ comment was probably a mental fatigue from the control of detailed coordinates.

”Hmm. It certainly feels like a dungeon of ruins.

Su scurried around the area and gave his impressions. The wall at the dead end had an earth attribute magic stone embedded in it. I’m sure the rock wall will open up when the magic power is poured into it.

The underground passage looked exactly like the dungeon on the remote island owned by Brunhild. The walls and floor made of stone, clearly an artifact made of earth magic. Even without being illuminated by Linze’s [Light], a bone-dry light was generated from the stone.

”Did you synthesize light magic when you made the stone with earth magic ……?”

Synthetic magic. I think it’s an ancient magical civilization in its time.

Linse and Lean consider this as they touch the stone wall. The underground passageway stretched straight and turned to the right.

With Yae and Hilda leading the way, they steadily advanced through the stone passage. The passageway was about four meters wide and four meters high, and it wasn’t too narrow to wield a weapon.

Youmina asks Princess Paphia, who is walking ahead of her.

”This underground passage was originally a dungeon of ruins, right?

‘It’s part of the dungeon, to be exact. There’s an entryway into the dungeon of the ruins from underneath the palace.

‘The dungeon and the royal palace are connected ……?　Is he okay?　Demons and other things have entered the royal palace and ……

Don’t worry. There are multiple wards on the side of the palace to keep the demons out. Demons do appear in this passage, but they are all weak demons like slime.

That’s a relief, right?　Paphira smiled at her, and Yumina, Else, Linse, and Yae stopped with a jolt.

”Let’s crush the slime as soon as we find it: ……

‘Yes. Thoroughly. ……

Every last one of them. ……

A must-see, that is. ……

The eyes of the four mumbling people were completely set.

In the past, the four of them had experienced a terrible experience with slime and have hated slime ever since.

Princess Paphira, who didn’t know such a situation, gave a drawn-out smile at the four who had suddenly changed their mood and backed off a bit.

”Ah, it’s the slime,”

“[Ice pierce, freeze needle, ice needle]

As soon as Sue found the green slime in front of her, an ice needle was released from Linze. The slime, which turned into a hedgehog in the blink of an eye, was nuked on the spot and easily survived.

”Oops. ……

Green slime is the enemy of women, sir. He’s with Kanaza.

A woman?

‘Green slimes like to eat fibers from clothing and other things. They are the natural enemy of female adventurers.

Leanne explained to Suu, who twisted her head. Sue nodded as if she was convinced and ran to everyone walking ahead.

Then, although there were some stairs to climb and some forks in the road, Yumina and the others continued on the road to the royal palace almost without hesitation.

One of the reasons for this was that Princess Paphira had remembered this path well.

I’m sure you’ve been thinking about this possibility for some time now, and my sister, Leffia, has made me repeat it. Although she never thought it would be an invasion route to defeat Kanaza, rather than an escape route.

‘It’s a fork in the road: ……’

‘Let’s see… …… left. Go that way.

The delay in answering Hilda, who is leading the way, is due to the reverse of the directions we learned. Following Paphira’s instructions, they all turn to the left corridor.

‘It’s quite long, you know. I think we’ve already made quite a bit of progress. ……

We’re almost there. They should have reached the basement of the palace by now.

‘Well, I see. ……. Then we’d better proceed carefully from here, right?

Linse, who had relatively little strength, regained her spirits after hearing Paphia’s answer. It’s true that no slime or other demons have appeared at all since just now. The influence of the wards put up in the royal palace must have already appeared.

After a while, Yae and Hilda, who were leading the way, stopped.

”What’s going on?”

Lou, who was behind him, looked forward with a hint of a smile over his eighteenth shoulder. There was a single staircase stretching out in front of them, but it had disappeared, hitting the ceiling in the middle.

‘The end point, that is?’

Climbing up the stairs, Yae tapped on the ceiling.

‘It sounds different. That ceiling is probably thin.’

A voice from the cherry blossoms caused Yae to examine the ceiling closely and found a slight seam in the square. Paphira, who was behind her, opened her mouth.

‘The top of it must lead to the now unused royal palace room.

I see. Then all you have to do is to lift it up, that is.　…… Hmmm!

When Yae reached up to the ceiling and put her hands on the ceiling and put some effort into it, the square stone shifted slightly and lifted upwards. But even if it’s thin, a stone is a stone. It seems to be quite heavy, and Yae’s face turned red as she tried to lift it, but it was difficult to lift it.

Hello, Yae?　Your face is getting a little hard to see!

Buh-ha!

Yae breaks her knees at the sound of Hilda’s voice, exhausting her strength. Seeing this, Else stepped forward, waving her arms in the air.

I’m going to be able to leave this kind of thing to me. I’ll lift you up in one shot.

Nuh. It’s a shame. ……

Batting lightly with Else, Yae descended the stairs.

Like Yae, she put her hand on the stone on the ceiling and Else let out a single breath.

”[Boost]!

Gagogo!　And then there was the sound of a stone shifting, and at once the stone above Else’s head was lifted.

What Else saw as she lifted the stone and stood up was a dimly lit room.

Else lowered the lifted stone to the front and crawled out of the hole. It was only when she turned around that she realized she had crawled out of the fireplace.

It certainly seemed to be an unused room, and there was little in the way of furnishings. The inside of the fireplace was empty, too.

He examined the area carefully and made sure there was no one around.

It seems to be okay. Come on up.

[wind thwarted, silence coming, mute]

Lean magic was released from the basement as Else’s voice was answered. With this, the noise in the room could not be heard outside.

It was a wind magic that had an effect similar to the unattributed magic [Silence] used by Fuyuyoru found in Babylon’s ‘Library’.

One by one, everyone crawled out of the fireplace. Although only Sakura and Tokie were able to transition.

”We’ve managed to break in, right?”

What’s next?

‘I will tell your father and sister Lefia what happened and ask them to take refuge somewhere. Then I will take Kanaza with my own hands to ……!

Gulp, Paphia clasped her hands. The flames of anger swirled in her eyes.

”So, where is His Majesty the King’s room?”

The sleeping quarters are on the third floor, at the far end of the room. Let’s see. ……

Paphira runs through the dimly lit room, answering Else, and makes her way to the window. She opens the closed curtains slightly.

‘See, I can see it from here. It’s the farthest room on that third floor.”

The courtyard spread out in the moonlight in the front window where Paphia stood, and Paphia pointed to the building diagonally to the left.

‘That’s surprisingly close,’

“As far as I can see, I can jump [teleport].

Sakura peers through the window at the king’s sleeping quarters and checks the distance. Unlike 【Gate】, 【Teleport】 doesn’t interfere with the destination of the transition, so it won’t be inhibited by protection and so on. The problem is that there’s no one other than the king at the destination of the jump …….

‘It will probably be fine. Even the people in my father’s belly and the maids were not allowed to approach us because of Kanaza’s orders. Only my sisters and I and our doctor were allowed to enter the room. Of course, our doctor was a puppet of Kanaza. ……

The fact that his doctor is a puppet means that he can kill the king at any time. Or maybe he continues in such a desperate situation and waits for the king’s heart to weaken.